Sunday, September 29, 2013

What's your favorite way to work?

This is one of mine...of course, OUT there, on the spot, is my first love. I was sitting on a bench by Lake Taneycomo, where I've camped a number of times when I wore a younger woman's clothes...

My favorite Noodler's Creaper pen and Lexington Gray ink let me sketch in the details, as much or as little as I like...

...and then I just splashed in the color, loosely. I use that a lot, because it keeps me from getting too niggly with details. This is a very comfortable technique for me. I often just jump right in with ink, when it's a subject like this, with no pencil underdrawing.

When my subject is more complex--like architecture!--I'll sometimes do some light graphite guidelines and THEN ink, as I did here. This was the little Depression-era cabin we stayed in for our anniversary, also at Bennett Springs. It's a charmer! (You can see the center fold of my journal right on the leading corner of the building.)

I used a similar technique here, but decided to only color the little building and a bit of background at Bennett Spring State Park where Joseph was fishing. This was done with a bent-nib Hero calligraphy pen, which makes wonderful brush-like marks, and no pencil underdrawing.

and for this one, I switched to my beloved vintage Sheaffer--probably of an age with the building, come to think of it!--and lost myself in the shapes and textures. I decided to leave it as it was, with no color...ink can suggest a kind of luminosity all by itself.

All three of the pens used here are fountain pens, so I always carry a tiny vial of ink with me! It's the same ink, too, which can look gray or black depending on which pen I'm using.

My maiden name is Bennett. My parents were both from Springfield, Mo and from large, large farm families. There were a lot of enterprises named after the Bennetts since they were so numerous. Wonder if Bennett Springs has anything to do with them. Because of all the aunts and uncles we spent many wonderful hours at Lake Taneycomo. Thanks for bringing back those memories. Love, love, love your sketches!

I gravitate toward doing a light pencil sketch of the general shapes in a scene, then drawing the picture with either a Noodler's Flex pen with Lex gray ink or a black Pigma Micron 01 pen. I almost always add watercolor, because my drawings seem incomplete without it, probably because I don't do any shading or differentiating of values with the pen. I leave that to the watercolor washes.

Well Leslie, whatever you're doing, it WORKS for you, I loved your little book on your travels in Ireland is a treasure with a permanent spot on my shelf! http://www.blurb.com/b/2924671-sketchbook-journeys-ireland

These are lovely, Kate. I am especially drawn to the fourth one with the pen and ink and just a portion colored with watercolor. I have a French art book that is filled with pages of this style and it so alive and fresh. Thanks for sharing your tools. Always helpful.